if one was to start selling cabs with games / few startup questions please read

[rlemmon]

So if I was thinking about going into the cab building business on a very SMALL SCALE  how would you go about distributing games with your cabs. I know Roms are out of the question but what about pc compilations like namco museum and atari hits.

Could you just buy a bunch of copies and give one away with each cab you sold or would that not be completely legal.

I also wander how companies like dreamauthentics and dream arcades deal with tech support. I would think people would drive you nuts by expecting you to fix things they screwed up.  Maybe one could write a custom front end that doesn't have any options to change settings of any sort.

Another question is about mame 32. Do you need premission to distribute it with your cabs ?

I'm not looking to get rich quick or anything. Maybe just make a cabaret cab or two to sell on eBay for the fun of it. I really love the whole design and building process but i don't have anyroom for another cab of my own.

Any thoughts would be greatly apprciated. Thanks guys.

[Fozzy The Bear]

Could you just buy a bunch of copies and give one away with each cab you sold or would that not be completely legal.

Yes, of course you can do that... That's called retail.  You buy a product and you sell it at a profit. Nothing illegal about that. The product in question is legal and fully licenced.

As for distributing Mame32 with your cab, you have to get consent from the Mame Devs and be on their approved list. There are strict rules about how and what you can do with it.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[rlemmon]

Thanks fozzy thats what I thought but I was thinking i read somewere that you can get into hot water doing it.

[leapinlew]

by small scale - I hope you mean friends and family. Outside of that - you run the risk of trouble.

[rlemmon]

by small scale - I hope you mean friends and family. Outside of that - you run the risk of trouble.

Leaoinlew. I wasnt meaning family or friends. What kind of trouble do you mean ?

[Donkey_Kong]

If I were to ever sell a homemade cabinet, this is how I would do it.

Build a cab with some sweet controls etc. make it really nice and unique looking. Buy some popular commercial computer games and get those all working good with the custom control panel. Package the cabinet with the commercial bought games. Then also, in the item's description mention that it could possibly be used with MAME, but not have it installed. Mention to them that there are literally THOUSANDS of people right now using this program called MAME that can be obtained online for FREE to play just about any and all classic video games from the past. Also mention that it is fairly easy to get working.

That is how I would approach the selling of a cabinet. My guess is you would be safe doing something like that. Also, search for the rules of the ability to even mention MAME in a commercial ad. There was a recent post in the MAIN forum discussing it. Follow MAME's rules and you should be set. Good Luck!

[Fozzy The Bear]

by small scale - I hope you mean friends and family. Outside of that - you run the risk of trouble.

He's not going to land in any trouble at all as long as he bundles the commercially bought games with it, and follows the rules for the use of MAME.... There's nothing illegal about building and selling cabinets with PC's or MAME inside them as long as he doesn't include ROMs and isn't charging for MAME itself just including it free. As long as he follows the rules set by the MAME Devs there's nothing to worry about.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[steveh]

what os are you planning on running on the machine?  make sure its not bootleg.  Also you should make your own restore disks for the machine threw Norton Ghost or something similiar.  that you provide with the setup.  You should also be very strict as to what you are supporting with the machine and any warrentee.  Keep in mind under most cases it will be more expensive to ship the machine then the machine is worth.   you are better off selling it locally.   Just dont do any thing dumb and you will be fine.

[GoPodular.com]

...and isn't charging for MAME itself just including it free. As long as he follows the rules set by the MAME Devs there's nothing to worry about.

Can't include MAME unless you have a ROM license agreement and have shot it past the MAMEdevs.  Including it even with zero ROMs is against the EULA:

http://mamedev.org/legalfaq.html
"Can I include MAME with my product?

In general, no. MAME is not a commercial product and is not generally available as a freebie you can throw in to add value to your product. There are exceptions to this rule for special cases. If you believe there is a compelling reason for us to allow you to include MAME with your product, you must contact us to obtain permission."

[Fozzy The Bear]

...and isn't charging for MAME itself just including it free. As long as he follows the rules set by the MAME Devs there's nothing to worry about.

Can't include MAME unless you have a ROM license agreement and have shot it past the MAMEdevs. 

Doh!!  That's what I said! "As long as he follows the rules set by the MAME Devs"

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)